A Wedding To Remember/Part 7
It was getting close to noon, and the Smurfs were gathering in Bluebell Dell dressed in their ties and tuxedos, making the final preparations so that everything would be perfect. Smurfette noticed that both Tapper and Duncan showed up wearing kilts with their tuxedos. "Gee, Tapper, I wouldn't expect you to be the type of Smurf who would wear a kilt to a wedding," Smurfette said. "Yes, well, it is a special occasion that would seem fitting for me to smurf a kilt like my fellow Smurf Duncan, my dear Smurfette," Tapper said. "He's got the smurf of a true Smurfsman in him, lassie," Duncan said. "I could remember smurfing him his first kilt when we were both wee ones. He seemed to be smurfing to it more easily than Miner did." Smurfette giggled. "I could only wish I was there as a little Smurfling to smurf it for myself." Hefty came by to see Smurfette when he noticed Tapper and Duncan with her. "Well, well, if it isn't the Gospel Smurf and Gutsy dressing up in their skirts today," he mused. "It's a kilt, laddie, and I'll smurf this to a wedding as I will smurf it to anything because I'm a proud Smurfsman, which you will never be," Duncan retorted. "I don't see why you would need to offend your fellow Smurfs over the clothes they choose to smurf, Hefty, but I will not smurf any grudges with you," Tapper said. "Besides, who knows, you may find yourself smurfing in one of these someday without feeling ashamed." "Not me, Tapper," Hefty said. "A real Smurf like me wouldn't want to be smurfed dead in plaid, even if you smurfed me all the way to the Highlands." Duncan snorted. "Don't be surprised if that's what happens to you, Hefty." "Anyway, Smurfette, Papa Smurf put me on duty to smurf for anything unusual that could crash the wedding," Hefty said, turning his attention toward her. "I just want to make sure everything here is all right, including you." "Oh, I'll be fine, Hefty," Smurfette said. "I don't see anything here that smurfs unusual. But if I do, I'm sure that you'll be the first to know about it." "We'll smurf through this together, Smurfette, trust me," Hefty said as the two of them embraced before Hefty headed off in another direction. Several of the Smurfs noticed a giant fancy-looking musical machine with huge organ pipes and a note posted right next to it. "Gosh, what's it say, Farmer?" Clumsy asked, curious to find out. "It here says, 'Mother Nature has to see to the gull migration, so she sends this magical musical machine with her regrets'," Farmer read aloud. "Ooooh...naturally, when she heard that we were smurfing the wedding of the century, she outsmurfed herself," Smurfette said as she looked at the musical machine and listened to it playing a soft organ tune while the preparations were wrapping up. "Well, I think it's time that I smurfed a talk with the bridegroom," Brainy said. "I'm sure that he could smurf some words of encouragement from his...ahem, best Smurf." "Best Smurf," Duncan snorted. "I could only imagine who chose you for that role, if anyone actually did in your case." "Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice, Duncan, that you couldn't be the best Smurf at this wedding?" Brainy said. "Woody himself has already decided that I should smurf that role, with just a little bit of counseling from me last night at the bachelor party." "Aw, just let Brainy be smurfing his role as the best Smurf if he wants to, Duncan," Farmer said. "Whatever makes him feel like he's important around here, he should enjoy it while he can." "Oh, very well, laddie," Duncan said as he watched Brainy enter the rabbit hole beneath a big tree where the bridegroom was waiting. "I've got to be on the lookout for whatever it is that may smurf this wedding anyway." "Is there something wrong, Tapper?" Smurfette asked, as she noticed that her fellow Smurf has been staring at the musical machine, looking rather puzzled. "I just have a feeling in my spirit that something here isn't right, my dear Smurfette, like somebody besides the Almighty is watching us right now," Tapper said with some foreboding. "I think that everybody here is smurfing a little nervous, Tapper," Smurfette said, trying to keep things positive. "I'm sure that when this is all over, we won't have anything to worry about and we'll see Woody and Laconia off to smurf on their honeymoon together." But Tapper still kept staring at the musical machine, feeling uncertain that the sense of being watched by something or someone was actually nothing to worry about. ----- Inside the rabbit hole, Brainy saw Tailor with Woody wearing his fancy bridegroom outfit, making sure everything was a perfect fit and that Woody liked what he was wearing, even if it was only until the ceremony and the reception was over. "So, Woody, how are you feeling right now?" Brainy asked rather casually. "Oh, I'm feeling perfectly fine, Brainy," Woody said. "I appreciate you for taking the role of the best Smurf at the wedding." "Really now?" Brainy said. "I was expecting you to be feeling really nervous. After all, this is going to be the biggest day of your life, and so many things can go wrong on this very important day." "Wrong?" Woody asked. "I mean, what can possibly go wrong on this day?" "Well, let's face the facts...maybe you're not ready to be married yet, and maybe Laconia's not ready to be married," Brainy said. "Maybe she has some nasty little habits that you don't know about, and maybe you have some nasty habits that she doesn't know about. Maybe you'll be miserable for the rest of your life." "Brainy, are you sure you want to be smurfing this to Woody right now?" Tailor asked as he noticed the look of trepidation on the bridegroom's face. "Let me finish my thought, Tailor," Brainy said, not wishing to be interrupted. "Why, I wouldn't blame you, Woody, if you just passed out, knowing what a big risk you're smurfing on such a decision that could be the matter of life and smurf, and furthermore..." ----- Soon Papa Smurf arrived with his priestly garb and noticed the card posted next to the musical machine, reading what it said. "Hmmmm...there's something very strange about this," he said to himself while stroking his beard. "I wonder why..." "Papa Smurf! Papa Smurf!" Brainy called out as he emerged from the rabbit hole. "The bridegroom just fainted! I honestly don't know why...maybe he just couldn't smurf the pressure." "Great Smurfness!" Papa Smurf exclaimed. He went inside the rabbit hole and saw Tailor trying to revive Woody, who at least managed to open his eyes a little. "Are you feeling a little better, Woody?" Papa Smurf asked. "Only a little better, Papa Smurf, but most of all I feel scared...scared of all the things that might happen in a marriage," Woody answered with some honest feeling. "It's okay to feel a little scared, Woody," Papa Smurf said. "Just remember that Laconia is also there with you, smurfing the same big chance that you are smurfing, and she may be feeling the same way right now. But tell me, why exactly is it that you asked her to marry you in the first place?" "Well, it's because she's kind and easy to talk to and...well, she's my best friend," Woody answered. "She's got a great sense of humor." "And a terrific tailor, I might add," Tailor interjected. "And on top of all that, we always have a wonderful time together," Woody said with a bit more enthusiasm in his voice. "Gosh, Papa Smurf, I just plain love her. What are we waiting for? Let's go!" As Tailor and Papa Smurf watched Woody leave the rabbit hole, seeming very excited to get married, Tailor said, "Well, you sure got him smurfing back on his feet and ready to be married, Papa Smurf!" "Honestly, Tailor, I don't know what I smurfed here," Papa Smurf said with a slight chuckle. ----- It was finally time for the ceremony, when most of the other guests that the Smurfs invited have arrived. Besides the Pussywillow Pixies, there was Flowerbell the woodnymph, Periwinkle the pixie and her father King Goldenrod, Gunilda the good fairy, Tharp the baby gargoyle from Quarrel Castle, Queen Fauna the fairy and her son Prince Fenwick, the mysterious Custodian of the Pools of Avalon, Michael the leprechaun, a water sprite from a swamp whom Scaredy Smurf had rescued and befriended, and the gnome couple Picklick and Guardiana. Pretty much everyone that the Smurfs had befriended in the past few years was there standing with the Smurfs, watching and waiting for Laconia to make her appearance. Then the wedding march played, and Laconia emerged from a rabbit hole with Papa Smurf as her escort, with Acorn as the ring bearer carrying two gold rings forged by Smithy Smurf on two small pillows, and Smurfette following afterward as the maid of honor. Laconia looked radiantly beautiful in her wedding dress...in fact, so beautiful that some of the Smurfs had their mouths gaping wide open and their eyes bulging out of their heads just at the sight. Woody just stood there at the altar, smiling and looking handsome in his bridegroom outfit, nervously waiting for the moment when he and his bride would exchange vows together. "This is the most perfect wedding that I have ever smurfed," Smurfette said to herself as she continued to walk down the red carpet toward the altar, following behind Laconia, Papa Smurf, and Acorn. "There's absosmurfly nothing that can ruin this moment right now." Meanwhile, inside the musical machine, Gargamel watched through his periscope at the Smurfs getting themselves ready for the moment of vows being exchanged, while he continued to play the wedding march without anybody noticing. Everything was building up to the moment that would now go according to his plan. "And now it's time for the final step in the dance of doom," he said with a malicious laugh. Then all of a sudden, Gargamel changed the music to a more haunting tune, and ghostly spirits started to appear from within the organ pipes, weaving in and out as the music played. The blue skies above Bluebell Dell began to turn dark and cloudy as the Smurfs and assembled guests around the altar noticed something going wrong. "Great Smurfness!" Papa Smurf exclaimed as he noticed the spirits coming out of the music machine, but he barely had any time to react before his mind went blank along with everyone else's as they fell into a hypnotic trance. Laconia looked around and noticed that everybody around her looked like they were zombies, barely reacting to anything and under somebody's control. Strangely, though, she couldn't hear the music that was coming from the Ghoulliope. Gargamel laughed as he continued to play the haunting music that had enthralled his audience. He pulled a handle on his organ, and from the front of the Ghoulliope a panel opened and a plank extended itself outward, showing that the Smurfs and their guests are now being commanded to walk up the plank into a large boiling pot within the machine. Laconia realized that she needed to stop the music machine, but that she couldn't do it alone. Grabbing the two pillows with the wedding rings, Laconia placed them over Smurfette's ears and tied them around her head with a sash. "Uh, what's happened?" Smurfette asked, as soon as she could no longer hear the haunting music. Then she saw for herself what's going on. "It's that music machine! It's playing magical music that's making the Smurfs walk into that boiling pot. Laconia, we've got to stop it!" "Dance, you rotten little Smurfs!" Gargamel shouted in glee, watching as they proceeded closer and closer to the boiling pot. "Dance the dance of doom!" Laconia followed Smurfette's lead as she ran to the giant wedding cake and started pulling pieces of the cake to throw at the Ghoulliope. Soon Gargamel could see that his machine is being pelted with lots of moist cake and sticky frosting, plugging up the holes in the pipes so that the music couldn't play through as easily. "Hey, what's going on?" Gargamel said, finding himself struggling to continue playing his music. "Stop that! Stop ruining my fun!" Soon Laconia and Smurfette had pulled enough pieces out of the cake to make the thing topple. They both ran as the cake fell right on top of the catapult with the rice loaded in it. So far, though, Smurfette could see that they have slowed the advance of the Smurfs toward the boiling pot, but haven't stopped them. Smurfette pulled the lever of the catapult, launching the rice and most of the cake right into the machine, landing on top of the boiling pot and covering it. Suddenly the Smurfs and the guests have awakened from the trance that they were in and realized what had almost happened. "Great Smurfness!" Papa Smurf exclaimed. "This pot's about to boil over! Run, my friends!" The Smurfs and the assembled guests all ran for cover as the Ghoulliope began to build up pressure from all the blocked steam inside. Gargamel continued to play, oblivious to the fact that it was now increasing the building pressure until Azrael saw that steam was now leaking through the pipes within the machine. Then Gargamel stopped playing and saw to his horror that the pipes were about to burst. The evil wizard and his cat tried to escape, but suddenly the Ghoulliope exploded, causing the duo to be catapulted high into the air until they landed in the muck pond outside Gargamel's hovel. "Ooooh...I really hate the Smurfs," Gargamel growled as he emerged from the muck pond all wet. ----- The Smurfs looked around at the wreckage of the Ghoulliope and the ruined mess of everything that was so carefully prepared for Woody and Laconia's wedding, glad that the only thing they still had was their lives. "Well, that's one wedding that certainly smurfed out with a bang!" Jokey said, trying to lighten up the mood. "That evil wizard surely got what was smurfing to him there, Jokey," Duncan said, agreeing with him. "Great Smurfiny Crickets, my dear Smurfette, are you all right?" Tapper asked. "I'm really upset, Tapper," Smurfette said, sounding very sad. "I wanted this to be the wedding of the century for Woody and Laconia, and now it got smurfed into the disaster of the century." "I wouldn't say that it's a complete disaster, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said as he noticed Woody and Laconia embracing each other. "All those two woodelves really needed was each other for a happy wedding." Smurfette looked at Woody and Laconia being happy with each other in that moment. "You're right, Papa Smurf. All those frills and fancy decorations really didn't matter at all. I really was looking for the perfect Smurf, but I guess that I'm not so perfect myself, am I, Papa Smurf?" "No, Smurfette, but remember that when you love someone, the smurfy things about the other person will make the unsmurfy things seem smurfy...very smurfy indeed," Papa Smurf said, as Smurfette gave him a big hug. "Let's say we give the laddie and the lass the true wedding that they really wanted all along, Papa Smurf," Duncan said. "I am truly in agreement with you on that, my fellow Duncan," Tapper said. Smurf to Part 8 Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf stories Category:A Wedding To Remember chapters